Question of Jail Time

[Veritas Aequitas™]

Ok so SWIM got caught with 3 pipes and barely 2 bowls of marijuana about a year ago in Washington State. This is SWIM's first offense since being 18. SWIM has to go to court on Thursday for said charge. SWIM knows that there is a Mandatory Sentence of 1 day. SWIM was wanting to know how long SWIM should expect to be in Jail?

[Solidly-here]

If you Really want to know, just go down to Court today. You will probably hear several cases regarding Pot. Just listen to the Sentences being handed out.

Obviously, this won't matter much as of yet. It will be a month or more before anything REAL happens.

So, Thursday, you can either (1) Plead "Not Guilty"; (2) Plead "Guilty"; or ask for a Continuance. If you make a Plea now, it will save you a trip to the Courthouse. A Continuance will give you a chance to talk to the Public Defender. Even if you do not qualify (financially) to have the PD represent you, she will tell you "How things run in your County."

Or, just call the District Attorney's office. Ask them what sentence they would want to impose on you. Or, ask the DA during your Court appearance. The Judge asks for you to Plea; you turn to the DA and ask: "If I Plead Guilty, what are you prepared to offer me?"

And, remember, even if the law "says" there's a Mandatory Sentence, the Judge has authority to impose the sentence (and then suspend it). Also, you may qualify for Probation.

The point is: Go to Court; ask questions.

[IHrtHalucingens]

In my experience, even though not in washington state, if it is your first offense as an adult you will most likely be put into a diversion program and be put on probation like solidly said above. Youll probably have to go through something like 3 months rehab and drug testing and probabtion for around a year, if you successfully complete this your charge can be expunged. Now this is just an educated guess, from what i have been through and what friends of mine have been through. definatley go to court and ask questions as was mentioned above. But dont worry too much about a first time possesion and paraphenalia charge.

[Solidly-here]

In another Thread ( http://www.drugs-forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16424 ), I discussed "Diversion" with a Forum member from New Jersey. Then he found out that New Jersey has a "Diversion" program, AND maybe he will qualify. His case, however, was complicated by the amount of his Pot (14 oz), and other drugs.

California also has "Diversion" from the Criminal Justice System. Be a good boy, and a year later your record is clean again. And, unlike New Jersey, it is guaranteed for all First-time offenders.

So, with any luck at all, Washington has its own Diversion program. I have a strong feeling that you will find out that answer in Court on Thursday. In California, for example, the Judge will tell each eligible Defendant whether he qualifies for Diversion, even before asking for a Plea (then, if he accepts, no Plea is taken; he signs the papers, and leaves the Court 20 minutes later). Good luck (and find a better hiding place for your Pot, next time).

[Pinkavvy]

Swim IS in washington state and can probably answer this question for you well. Luckily here in washington we have a great diversion program called "Drug Court." Drug court allows you to take any drug charges (other than manufacturing) and divert them to treatment. While in drug court the only important thing is that you show up. You must call a phone number every morning and see if you were randomly selected to take a pee test that day. If you miss a pee test, or miss a weekly "drug court" date you go to jail with maximum sentance, however if you take all your pee tests and show up to all your court appointments, charges are dropped after you get clean for 5 months. (you can have dirty pee tests as much as you want as long as you dont miss a test or court date or get arrested again. but you wont get out of drug court until you have 5 months worth of clean tests.

But to be honest, that's a lot of crap to go through for a very simple misdemenor. (MOST police officers in washington state would have simply thrown your bowl away and broke your pipe or gave it back to you.)

Now there's a couple other things you can consider. If this bust occured in seattle by a seattle police officer (rather than state patrol) then you need to plead guilty and get a lawyer, as the police officer is going to have to prove that the marijuana charges basically jumped into their lap. In seattle it is against the law for a local police officer to charge anybody with marijuana as a sole charge. Meaning, it is their lowest priority. Unless you received a driving on a suspended license charge in conjunction with the marijuana charges, then they marijuana charges will not hold up. (as marijuana alone in seattle is not an arrestable offense by itself.)

Next, if it wasn't a local seattle pd officer, or was not in seattle, you still have some options. If this is your first drug charges, you wont serve any time. Please not guilty and if your lawyer doesn't get it dropped simply for the sake of giving you another chance, push for a jury trial and they will drop the charges.

Else, get it over quickly and plead guilty, you'll more than likely get sentances 15 days with 15 days suspended (meaning you dont have to serve any time at all) and a $500 fine for the misdemenor.

seriously, nothing to worry about.